Strike one van.

Sorry I've not been active for a couple of weeks. I've had a bad chest, ear, nose and throat infection which put a whole new meaning to getting your cents worth.

On top of that, last Thursday night a Roe Deer helped me total the van which means that I'm going to have to function without transport for at least a couple of months; as I just don't have the cash resources to go out and get an instant replacement.

I managed to avoid the deer but hit a very big wall on the opposite side of the road. It doesn't look that bad in the picture but it wrecked the wheel and tyre and crumpled the chassis, plus there's damage to the body further back. The wall didn't move!

I'm having to re-assess how and what surveying I'll be doing over the winter. Corrimony and Dundreggan
will have to wait until early next year and meanwhile, I'll be working mainly in the forest to the west of Guisachan which is shown below.

As well as Red Squirrels, I'll be looking for Wildcat using low glow infra red cameras on the remote animal trails in the area.

This is an area of well over 600 hectares, much of which is dense plantation and relatively remote; so I expect to be working in there for a long time.

Red Deer Hind spooked by infra-red LEDs on trail camera.

I moved the trail camera from the Badger Sett a few days ago to investigate a couple of deer trails and this clip is one of the early results.


This Red Deer Hind was heading towards the trail camera in early morning light; which wasn't bright enough to prevent the infra-red illumination from switching on. Like Foxes, Deer seem to be made very nervous on sight of the red glow from the LEDs.

Red Deer Hind

The Red Deer hind was browsing on heath under a cloud of midges and I was camode up on the edge of the bog waiting for a Roe buck when the hind came quietly out from the forests edge.

She was there for a fair time when there was a change of wind direction and she caught my scent, which put her head up (the moment of this shot); but she couldn't figure out where I was. After some hesitation she decided to go back into the trees and drifted off, still testing the air.

I'd been in one position for long enough and had more or less given up on the buck so I stood up. When my head cleared the bracken there was a crash to the right about thirty feet away and I was greeted with the sight of the retreating rear end of the Roe Buck I'd been waiting to see.

Seems to be the way of it with me and Roe deer. I've missed some fantastic shots and never, so far, managed to get one I would want to publish. It'll happen right one of these days and the red hind made it worth the effort on this occasion.